Week #2: Ch.1 Vision and Quick Victories

In this chapter, Shackleton's specific actions were mentioned. One of his action made me laugh, but impressed. It is that once Shackleton knew surely that there was no possibility to achieve their previous goal which is to cross the continent and reach to the South Pole, he quickly and easily changed his goal to "bring up every man back alive" (Pg. 16). I wonder why he could give up the first goal that simply, though he prepared for a long time, choosing ships, crews, and dogs. It also might have been costed a lot. But his decision was right, and if he didn't decide to go back that early, crews' life might have been threatened. As we had the word on the blackboard today, decisiveness or the good judgement is one of the most important components to be a good leader, I think. I feel this very strongly when looking at the store manager at where I work for. He is good at deciding things in a moment and give orders to us. For example, when to go clean the floor of the store and when to start frying pies. Though he is busy thinking about those things and also the works he have to do, he often gives us both negative and positivefeedbacks, too,  so I really respect him^^

Week #2: Time I challenge myself at most and what helped me to manage it.

Today (or it's already yesterday), we talked about the situation we have ever challenged ourselves in our life at most. And for me, one of those situations is coming right now. I have very hectic schedule recently that I could hardly manage. This term, I take classes that demand us a lot of reading assignments (including this class), so it takes a lot of time. And I also take Spanish 2. This class continues from Spanish 1 from the last term, but since I couldn't take Spanish 1 the last term for having ELA classes, I take Spanish from this term. We have about 15 students in the class, but there are only 2 new comers who take the class from this term, including me. And what's more, I am the only freshman in the class. Though I had learned Spanish before, those facts pressure me a lot and make me worried if I could keep up with other students and also if I could get along with them. So I am mentally very tired recently. I also have to practice playing the piano, for the concert in February. Though it's more than a month from the day of the concert, I chose the challenging score, so it takes me a lot of time to practice. And I am also doing the part-time job in McDonald's and also tutoring!! How hard it is to do all those stuffs!
I sometimes feel I have to give up something (one of the above), to have others successful. However, I cannot choose something to give up, and therefore make efforts to manage everything. I think what help me to manage this difficult situation is the time and co-workers in McDonalds. I have really fun working there with wonderful co-workers. I mean, it takes time and I use a lot of energy to work, of course. But talking with customers and other co-workers realieves me from stress I feel in school, in the dorm, etc. They and time there are really good refreshments for me, that they can make me think things in a positive way (Though I am usually negative-thinking person). They keep me going forward^^

Week #1: Harvard Business Review

Reading through this article, I understood how mirror neurons, spindle cells, and oscillators work to mak a good leader. And how a good leader uses those neurons. My question is, do successful leaders know the presence of those neurons and are they conscious about using them? But anyway, I got they use them effectively.
And what I found most interesting in this article is that the positive feedback with negative attitudes (such as narrow eyes) makes the people who received it feel worse than the negative feedback with positive attitudes(such as smiling). I imagined myself in both situation, and I realized that I, too, would prefer negative feedback with positive attitude more. I actually get many kinds of feedbacks when working in McDonald's. I feel people who don't make me feel bad though giving me negative feedbacks don't just say what they have to say, but they add phrases like "Next time, you can do it better" or "Your this part was good, so what you only have to do is this" with smile. So though I was said about negative things, I can respond them "OK!" with smile.  

Week #1: What are some important things when standing in front of many people?

Yesterday, we basically learned about what we have to focus on when speaking in front of the audience. Some of the things that we have to be conscious about are strong stands, good eye contacts, and the place of hands. Though some teachers I had before taught us like it is important to have an eye contact, I have never learned about the behaviors when making speech this throughly, so all those ideas or points seemed very fresh to me. And when we did "blah blah blah speech," I realized how hard it is to keep those points in my head and do as so. Though what I only have to say was "blah, blah, blah," I got a little nervous when stood in front of just seven or eight people. When making the speech, I focused to make an eye contact and stand steadily, but I totally forgot to make my hands like holding a basketball. I think I have to practice more to make a good speech>_<

Here is a link I found interesting about eye contact. It talks about the importance of eye contact and also its common mistakes, very specifically. If you have time, skim through this^^
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/common-eye-contact-mistakes

About Myself

Hello, I am Mari Iida, from Section 2C.
I lived in Torrance, Los Angeles when I was a middle school student.
Since I came back to Japan to enter Japanese high school almost 4 years ago, I have never visited
Los Angeles again, nor any other foreign countries.
So recently, I am getting kind of tired of being in Japan, and really want to have a trip to somewhere abroad ;_;
And moreover, I really miss my friends there, and the place itself >_< You may know, Los Angeles has nice weather, warm and dry, throughout the year. Just as the picture below^^




I also work in McDonald's, which locates right front of Ochanomizu station. It is really far from the dorm (I live in Keyaki Dorm), and they don't give us transportation fee. However, I continue working there because I love the other staffs to work together, I love the place itself, and I really have fun. I feel like I cannot work at other McDonald's and that's why I cannot quit there^^ If you have a chance to visit Ochanomizu, please visit McDonald's there, and have some meals!




Finally, nice to meet you guys^^